DNA helps African-Americans trace ancestry

DNA helps African-Americans trace ancestry

Published 6:30 am, Thursday, February 24, 2005

It took six weeks for James Jacobs to find out about his long, lost ancestors — a life-changing event capping years of research.

He had traced his paternal family back to his great-great-grandfather Francois Jacob, born into slavery in 1820. Like other African-Americans documenting family history, Jacobs then hit a wall.

Then he read about a company that could take his DNA from a cheek swab and trace his lineage to an ethnic group within an African country.

When Jacobs received his answer from African Ancestry in December 2003, he handled it like precious cargo. His DNA sequence on his father's side matched the Yoruba people of Nigeria. His mother's side matched the Bamileke people of Cameroon.

"It made me feel wonderful. It was a feeling of: 'My God, that's how it all happened,' " Jacobs recalls. "The woman came from Cameroon and Nigeria is right next to it, so they all came to a common place to go to the ship. The feeling is hard to describe, like having a long-lost parent and you found them. I was able to make this huge leap, and now all I have to do is go back and visit."

Now Jacobs' framed certificates of ancestry are proudly displayed, along with a map showing his family's countries of origin, on a wall in his home.

Jacobs loves to travel, and pictures of his many vacations are displayed on the opposite wall. The only country he has visited in Africa is Egypt, but Jacobs hopes to visit Nigeria and Cameroon.

At 75, he is tall and fit, a veteran of the Korean War who proudly wears a Buffalo Soldiers cap.

He heard about African Ancestry, a genetics-based genealogy firm, through a newspaper article. The company was co-founded in February 2003 by microbiologist and geneticist Rick Kittles and entrepreneur Gina Paige.

Genealogical meeting

Both will visit Houston Saturday for a lecture at
Texas Southern University
. Kittles will discuss the current trends in family history and genealogical research. The program is co-sponsored by the Afro-American Historical & Genealogical Society/Willie Lee Gay H-Town Chapter.

"We are the only people in the world who don't know what country we come from," Paige says. "It helps us to reconnect with the past and broaden our sense of identity, on a personal and global level. I feel that I have a connection that makes me a better citizen."

DNA samples

Their database has 22,000 DNA samples of African lineage, Paige said, equally divided between male and female. It was compiled partly through Kittles' research in Africa and research in the public domain. So far, the company has 135 ethnic groups in the database, though there are thousands more in Africa, and the goal is to expand each year.

The focus currently is on 30 countries in west and central Africa, where most enslaved Africans came from, Paige said. To achieve that, the company used the advice of linguists, historians and anthropologists.

Kittles was originally involved in the African Burial Ground project that began in the early '90s when the bodies of unknown Africans were discovered under a federal building in New York City.

"My understanding is that one of the participants (in the DNA analysis) approached Kittles and said: 'If you can do this with the dead, why not with the living?' " says Karim T. Aldredge-Rand, president of the local genealogy society.

Discovering lineage

Kittles traced his maternal lineage to the Hausa people, now living in northern Nigeria. The DNA in his paternal line is German. That didn't surprise Kittles because 30 percent of African-American males have European genes in their Y chromosome.

The Y chromosome is passed down intact from father to son, just as mitochondrial DNA is handed down from mother to child, Paige explains.

Tests of Paige's maternal lineage matched the Fulani of Nigeria; her paternal lineage is Portugese.

"We have a wide range of reactions to the results," Paige said. "For the most part people are excited, overwhelmed, speechless and happy. It's powerful information, and people are deeply moved. Occasionally, for people who find European genes in their lineage, there is the occasional disappointment because they have lived their lives with a certain identity."

Aldredge-Rand has done two types of DNA testing. The African Ancestry test linked his paternal line to the Makua people of Mozambique. He also did a genomic test, more of a DNA print, with a Florida company that showed he had 88 percent African ancestry, 7 percent East Asian and 5 percent European.

"We are hoping that people will really come out for this event," says Aldredge-Rand, coordinator of documents in TSU's law library.

"It's an introduction, to expose the community to the latest on family research and another tool for chasing down one's ancestry, not the definitive tool. At the least it gives a hint or clue and helps people to close the gap."

The African Ancestry tests cost $295 each. In honor of Black History Month, the company is offering a "family package" for $590. The package includes both a MatriClan and a PartiClan Test kit.

Well worth it

Jacobs feels his money was well spent. Because his family had lived in Marksville, La., for generations, it was somewhat easier to trace his paternal line. He found his great-grandfather Francois Jacob on the 1880 census, where he indicated his father and mother came from Africa.

Jacobs had also heard family stories of the African called either Ebus or "Jacko Congo." It is believed that many slaves in Louisiana came from the Congo.

When Jacobs found out his paternal ancestry was from Nigeria, it made sense because the men in his father's side were tall and big.

To make sure the tests were accurate, Jacobs had a first cousin send in his DNA sample. His results were identical.

"I tell my daughter, I'm not in it (the family research) for you," Jacobs says. "I'm doing it for your granddaughter when there is no one around to answer her questions, just like there is no one around for me to ask now."